Histograms

Faisal Qureshi
Professor
Faculty of Science
Ontario Tech University
Oshawa ON Canada
http://vclab.science.ontariotechu.ca

Copyright information

© Faisal Qureshi

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.cm as cm
from sklearn.datasets import make_blobs
from matplotlib.image import NonUniformImage

Lesson Plan

• Histograms in 1D and 2D
  • Construction
  • Visualization
• Non-uniform bins

Histogram

• A plot that lets us discover the underlying frequency distribution of some data.

Example 1D

np.random.seed(0)

x = np.hstack([np.random.rand(1000)*4, np.random.randn(1000)*2+9])
np.random.shuffle(x)

Plotting raw data

Lets plot this data using matplotlib plot method and see if we can make any sense of it.

plt.figure(figsize=(15,7))
plt.title('This data plot doesn\'t provide any insight')
plt.plot(x,'.');

Histogram construction

That didn't work out. Lets construct a histogram. We will use the following steps:

• Find the minimum and maximum value in x
• Use these values to define bins
• Count how many items in x fall into each of these bins
• Plot bin counts

minimum = np.min(x)
maximum = np.max(x)

print(f'Minimum value in x is {minimum}')
print(f'Maximum value in x is {maximum}')

Minimum value in x is 0.0021838595879826173
Maximum value in x is 15.34194954658036

nbin = 40

bins = np.linspace(minimum, maximum, nbin+1)
print(f'Bins are defined by these boundary values:\n{bins.reshape(nbin+1,-1)}')

Bins are defined by these boundary values:
[[2.18385959e-03]
 [3.85678002e-01]
 [7.69172144e-01]
 [1.15266629e+00]
 [1.53616043e+00]
 [1.91965457e+00]
 [2.30314871e+00]
 [2.68664285e+00]
 [3.07013700e+00]
 [3.45363114e+00]
 [3.83712528e+00]
 [4.22061942e+00]
 [4.60411357e+00]
 [4.98760771e+00]
 [5.37110185e+00]
 [5.75459599e+00]
 [6.13809013e+00]
 [6.52158428e+00]
 [6.90507842e+00]
 [7.28857256e+00]
 [7.67206670e+00]
 [8.05556085e+00]
 [8.43905499e+00]
 [8.82254913e+00]
 [9.20604327e+00]
 [9.58953741e+00]
 [9.97303156e+00]
 [1.03565257e+01]
 [1.07400198e+01]
 [1.11235140e+01]
 [1.15070081e+01]
 [1.18905023e+01]
 [1.22739964e+01]
 [1.26574906e+01]
 [1.30409847e+01]
 [1.34244788e+01]
 [1.38079730e+01]
 [1.41914671e+01]
 [1.45749613e+01]
 [1.49584554e+01]
 [1.53419495e+01]]

counts, edges = np.histogram(x, bins)
print(f'Counts for different bins are ({len(counts)}):\n{counts.reshape(nbin,-1)}')
print(f'Counts are for these edges ({len(edges)}):\n{edges.reshape(nbin+1,-1)}')

Counts for different bins are (40):
[[ 89]
 [106]
 [ 95]
 [111]
 [ 98]
 [ 87]
 [ 88]
 [ 95]
 [ 81]
 [109]
 [ 47]
 [  0]
 [  5]
 [ 10]
 [ 20]
 [ 23]
 [ 31]
 [ 33]
 [ 60]
 [ 56]
 [ 59]
 [ 74]
 [ 66]
 [ 91]
 [ 84]
 [ 77]
 [ 65]
 [ 47]
 [ 59]
 [ 20]
 [ 39]
 [ 23]
 [ 18]
 [ 10]
 [  8]
 [  7]
 [  5]
 [  3]
 [  0]
 [  1]]
Counts are for these edges (41):
[[2.18385959e-03]
 [3.85678002e-01]
 [7.69172144e-01]
 [1.15266629e+00]
 [1.53616043e+00]
 [1.91965457e+00]
 [2.30314871e+00]
 [2.68664285e+00]
 [3.07013700e+00]
 [3.45363114e+00]
 [3.83712528e+00]
 [4.22061942e+00]
 [4.60411357e+00]
 [4.98760771e+00]
 [5.37110185e+00]
 [5.75459599e+00]
 [6.13809013e+00]
 [6.52158428e+00]
 [6.90507842e+00]
 [7.28857256e+00]
 [7.67206670e+00]
 [8.05556085e+00]
 [8.43905499e+00]
 [8.82254913e+00]
 [9.20604327e+00]
 [9.58953741e+00]
 [9.97303156e+00]
 [1.03565257e+01]
 [1.07400198e+01]
 [1.11235140e+01]
 [1.15070081e+01]
 [1.18905023e+01]
 [1.22739964e+01]
 [1.26574906e+01]
 [1.30409847e+01]
 [1.34244788e+01]
 [1.38079730e+01]
 [1.41914671e+01]
 [1.45749613e+01]
 [1.49584554e+01]
 [1.53419495e+01]]

Lets find bin centers using the edges

centers = (edges[:-1]+edges[1:])/2
print(f'Bin centers are({len(centers)}):\n{centers.reshape(nbin,-1)}')

Bin centers are(40):
[[ 0.19393093]
 [ 0.57742507]
 [ 0.96091922]
 [ 1.34441336]
 [ 1.7279075 ]
 [ 2.11140164]
 [ 2.49489578]
 [ 2.87838993]
 [ 3.26188407]
 [ 3.64537821]
 [ 4.02887235]
 [ 4.41236649]
 [ 4.79586064]
 [ 5.17935478]
 [ 5.56284892]
 [ 5.94634306]
 [ 6.32983721]
 [ 6.71333135]
 [ 7.09682549]
 [ 7.48031963]
 [ 7.86381377]
 [ 8.24730792]
 [ 8.63080206]
 [ 9.0142962 ]
 [ 9.39779034]
 [ 9.78128449]
 [10.16477863]
 [10.54827277]
 [10.93176691]
 [11.31526105]
 [11.6987552 ]
 [12.08224934]
 [12.46574348]
 [12.84923762]
 [13.23273176]
 [13.61622591]
 [13.99972005]
 [14.38321419]
 [14.76670833]
 [15.15020248]]

Plotting counts

plt.figure(figsize=(15,7))
plt.title('Plotting counts vs bin centers')
plt.xlabel('Bin centers')
plt.ylabel('Counts')
plt.plot(centers, counts, '.');

Using Bar plot to visualize a histogram

Lets plot this as a bar graph

cmap = cm.get_cmap('Spectral')

max_count = np.max(counts)
colors = cmap(np.copy(counts) / max_count)

plt.figure(figsize=(15,7))
plt.title('Histogram shown as a bar plot')
plt.xlabel('Bin centers')
plt.ylabel('Counts')
plt.bar(centers, counts, width=.5, color=colors);

/var/folders/__/7_6vnl8x6tn6gq0nhwd6j4tc0000gn/T/ipykernel_31831/64945571.py:1: MatplotlibDeprecationWarning: The get_cmap function was deprecated in Matplotlib 3.7 and will be removed in 3.11. Use ``matplotlib.colormaps[name]`` or ``matplotlib.colormaps.get_cmap()`` or ``pyplot.get_cmap()`` instead.
  cmap = cm.get_cmap('Spectral')

Histogram normalization

Converting a histogram into a probability distribution

counts = counts / np.linalg.norm(counts)  # Normalization

max_count = np.max(counts)
colors = cmap(np.copy(counts) / max_count)

plt.figure(figsize=(15,7))
plt.title('Histogram shown as a bar plot')
plt.xlabel('Bin centers')
plt.ylabel('Counts')
plt.bar(centers, counts, width=.5, color=colors);

Visualizing histogram bins

plt.figure(figsize=(15,15))
ax = plt.subplot(111)
ax.set_title('Visualizing bins')
ax.set_yticks(bins,minor=False)
ax.yaxis.grid(True, which='major')
ax.plot(x,'.');

Example in 2D

# data 1
d1, _ = make_blobs(n_samples=50000, centers=[[-4, -6], [2, -4]], cluster_std=[1.5, 1.5])
d2, _ = make_blobs(n_samples=10000, centers=[[2, 1]], cluster_std=[1.5])
d3, _ = make_blobs(n_samples=10000, centers=[[-1, -4.5]], cluster_std=[0.3])

data = np.vstack([d1, d2])
#data = np.vstack([d1, d2, d3])

print(f'Shape of data = {data.shape}')

Shape of data = (60000, 2)

Plotting raw data

plt.figure(figsize=(7,7))
plt.title('Raw data')
plt.xlim(-10, 8)
plt.ylim(-10, 8)
plt.plot(data[:,0], data[:,1], '.');

Setting up 2D grid

Lets define a grid over this 2D space. We will then count the number of points in each cell

nbins_x = 100
nbins_y = 100

edges_x = np.linspace(-10, 8, nbins_x)
edges_y = np.linspace(-10, 8, nbins_y)

plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
ax = plt.subplot(111, title='Visualizing 2D grid')
ax.set_xlim(-10, 8)
ax.set_xticks(edges_x, minor=True)
ax.xaxis.grid(True, which='both')
ax.set_ylim(-10, 8)
ax.set_yticks(edges_y, minor=True)
ax.yaxis.grid(True, which='both')
plt.plot(data[:,0], data[:,1], '.');

Constructing 2D histogram

Use numpy.histogram2d to compute the histogram. We can visualize this histogram as an image, for example.

H, _, _ = np.histogram2d(data[:,0], data[:,1], bins=(edges_x, edges_y))

Visualizing 2D histogram as an image

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(15, 15))
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, title='Visualizing histogram as an image')
plt.imshow(H.T, interpolation='nearest', origin='lower', extent=[edges_x[0], edges_x[-1], edges_y[0], edges_y[-1]], cmap='Spectral')
# Uncomment the following if using data 2 above.  Notice the +1.  This is to ensure that np.log doesn't
# complain when it receives a 0 count
#plt.imshow(np.log(H.T+1), interpolation='nearest', origin='low', extent=[edges_x[0], edges_x[-1], edges_y[0], edges_y[-1]], cmap='Spectral')
plt.colorbar();

Visualizing 2D histogram as a bar plot

centers_x = (edges_x[:-1] + edges_x[1:]) / 2
centers_y = (edges_y[:-1] + edges_y[1:]) / 2

cxx, cyy = np.meshgrid(centers_x, centers_y)
cxx_, cyy_ = cxx.ravel(), cyy.ravel()

cmap = cm.get_cmap('Spectral')

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d', title='2D histogram visualized as a bar plot')

H_ = H.ravel()
bottom_ = np.zeros_like(H_)
width = .1
depth = .1

colors = H_ / np.max(H_)

ax.bar3d(cxx_, cyy_, bottom_, width, depth, H_, color=cmap(colors));

/var/folders/__/7_6vnl8x6tn6gq0nhwd6j4tc0000gn/T/ipykernel_31831/8972550.py:1: MatplotlibDeprecationWarning: The get_cmap function was deprecated in Matplotlib 3.7 and will be removed in 3.11. Use ``matplotlib.colormaps[name]`` or ``matplotlib.colormaps.get_cmap()`` or ``pyplot.get_cmap()`` instead.
  cmap = cm.get_cmap('Spectral')

Non-uniform bins

The bins doesn't have all to be the same size, or square (in case of 2D bins). Often times it is advantages to choose bins that are not uniform. E.g., it is possible to pick a higher number of bins around regions of interest, or regions that contain a lot of data.

edges_x = np.array([-10,-7,-6,-5,-4,-3,-2,8])
edges_y = np.array([-10,-9,-8,-7,-6,-5,-4,-3,-2,0,8])

plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
ax = plt.subplot(111, title='Visualizing non-uniform 2D grid2D grid')
plt.plot(data[:,0], data[:,1], '.', alpha=.3);
ax.set_xlim(-10, 8)
ax.set_xticks(edges_x)
ax.xaxis.grid(True, color='red', linewidth=2)
ax.set_ylim(-10, 8)
ax.set_yticks(edges_y)
ax.yaxis.grid(True, color='red', linewidth=2)

We can compute the histogram as before

H, _, _ = np.histogram2d(data[:,0], data[:,1], bins=(edges_x, edges_y))
H = H.T # So rows correspond to y-axis

Histogram visualization

However if we try to visualize this histogram as an image as before, it doesn't make any sense. Recall that images shown on a uniform grid, whereas the bin centers for the histogram seen above do not align with a uniform grid.

First attempt

Visualizing a histogram computed over a non-uniform grid as a regular image doesn't work

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(15, 15))
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, title='Visualizing a non-uniform histogram as an image')
plt.imshow(H, interpolation='nearest', origin='lower', extent=[edges_x[0], edges_x[-1], edges_y[0], edges_y[-1]], cmap='Spectral')
# Uncomment the following if using data 2 above.  Notice the +1.  This is to ensure that np.log doesn't
# complain when it receives a 0 count
#plt.imshow(np.log(H.T+1), interpolation='nearest', origin='low', extent=[edges_x[0], edges_x[-1], edges_y[0], edges_y[-1]], cmap='Spectral')
plt.colorbar();

Second attempt

We will visualize a histogram computed on a non-uniform grid as a non-uniform image.

centers_x = (edges_x[:-1] + edges_x[1:])/2
centers_y = (edges_y[:-1] + edges_y[1:])/2

cxx, cyy = np.meshgrid(centers_x, centers_y)

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(7, 7))
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, title='Visualzing 2D histogram on a non-uniform grid.')
ax.pcolormesh(cxx, cyy, H, cmap='Spectral', shading='nearest');

cmap = cm.get_cmap('Spectral')

cxx_, cyy_ = cxx.ravel(), cyy.ravel()
H_ = H.ravel()
bottom_ = np.zeros_like(H_)
width = .5
depth = .5

colors = H_ / np.max(H_)

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d', title='2D histogram visualized as a bar plot')
plt.xlabel('x')
plt.ylabel('y')
ax.bar3d(cxx_, cyy_, bottom_, width, depth, H_, color=cmap(colors));

/var/folders/__/7_6vnl8x6tn6gq0nhwd6j4tc0000gn/T/ipykernel_31831/4200530748.py:1: MatplotlibDeprecationWarning: The get_cmap function was deprecated in Matplotlib 3.7 and will be removed in 3.11. Use ``matplotlib.colormaps[name]`` or ``matplotlib.colormaps.get_cmap()`` or ``pyplot.get_cmap()`` instead.
  cmap = cm.get_cmap('Spectral')

Histograms in higher dimensions

Check out numpy.histogramdd to construct histograms in higher dimensional data.